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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Roughing It

I am on a farm.

I will be camping the night on this farm.

There are no mini bars, No room service, No showers.

Apart from that it's heaven.

I've been moaning and groaning about going camping for about two weeks and that was before I found out about the "oh, and there's no showers.." bit. Just as well because I might have aborted; considering that my idea of 'roughing it' is no turn-down service or a poorly stocked mini-bar. But no showers? Are they serious?OK I'm being a Drama Queen. Calmsley Hill Farm is only an overnight stay and just over an hour out of Sydney so what's the big deal? We are with Pinkster's French School group organised by her teacher and apart
from flirting with divorce over how to disassemble the tent, and being thrown into a social situation unwashed and with furry teeth..it was a surprisingly pleasant.

Our personal mini-bar was VERY well stocked and there's nothing quite like emptying a couple of bottles of good red beside a campfire while Farmer Ryan (or was it Brad?) keeps the kiddles busy toasting marshmallows.

When we arrived, we had to hit the ground running because She-Who-Worships-Pink was late for the Working Dogs show,right after that was the Koala Cuddling, Baby Animal Petting, Sheep Shearing and Cow Milking followed by a Tractor tour of the farm.

Of course, with all this on offer, our Pinkster went into a melt-down because she wanted to find some cats. Yes, we brought her camping on a farm surrounded by every imaginable exotic (and not-so) animal but she's on the hunt for house-cats.

But that's a good thing about this overnight camping package: you can always come back to the petting shed etc. in the morning, if you're obsessive offspring is hung up on kitties. And since you haven't had the benefit of a shower, you wont feel any grottier for the experience.

Well the two cats she found were cute but I was totally hung up on Kevin Bacon here:

Although you can rent tents at the farm, we'd decided to dust of and try out our oh-so-very-complicated but very nice tent that was stored in the attic immediately after its purchase18 months ago. The meals provided were very basic, but they were cooked for us, so you gotta love that.

And
yes, if there was a little parental squabbling, as Mr Frenchie and I
tried to undo and pack our elaborate parachute-silk-palace in the baking
morning sun, we weren't the only ones. Fortunately (and thoughtfully) Farmer
Ryan (or Brad?) had removed all the kiddlets out of earshot of the
expletives in a well planned 'walk-about' to cut and collect leaves for
the koalas.

Chez Nous

I never thought I would say this but - I like camping! It's been one of those pleasant surprises I just know we'll do again. :0)

Never have I'm afraid, Kirsty, but hats off to you: enjoying it in a tornado - you're a real trooper. I'm a bit like a cat- hate to get wet- cold- windswept.i like somwhere to plug in my hair dryer- hot showers ... I am in awe of you!

Roughing it = no room serviceI'm with you Tegan. We once tried Glamping with those elevated platform pre-pitched tents with cute little ensuite outdoor-ish bathrooms... "Paperbark Camp"But blurry cold & bugs galore. I'd do that again but they wont allow kids under 8 :0(Thanks 4 dropping in